Student leaders fear losing control of frosh events after vulgar rape chant reportedly used at second university

Administrators at the University of British Columbia launched an investigation this weekend into reports that a rendition of a now-notorious frosh week chant — which garnered national attention at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax and caused two student leaders to resign amid controversy — was also used at the west coast school.

The second reported occurrence of the chant, which has been derided for “endorsing non-consensual sex,” has student groups afraid that school administrators across the country will use the controversy as license to further encroach on what has traditionally been a student-run orientation process.

In a Saturday statement, the dean of the school of business and the UBC vice president of students said they were investigating reports of a chant recited on “one or more buses” carting first-year students and frosh week leaders from the Sauder School of Business between events last week.

A day before the school issued its statement, UBC’s campus newspaper, the Ubyssey posted Tweets from one of the students on the bus, who quoted the lyrics of the chant — spelling out the word “young” with a phrase attached to each letter, including “Y is for your sister,” “ U is for underage” and “N is for no consent.”

First-year students and frosh week leaders confirmed use of the chant in interviews, the campus paper reported.

A similar version of the chant was captured on video during a frosh week event at Saint Mary’s and posted online, causing the university to create a task force aimed at bringing about a “culture change” on campus. Jared Perry, president of the Saint Mary’s student government who was among the student leaders who performed the chant to 400 students, resigned Friday along with Carrigan DesJardins, the student government’s vice-president in charge of frosh week events.

Video via Huffington Post

But the Canadian Federation of Students heralded the benefits of “peer to peer” orientation in an interview Sunday, despite “problematic traditions that exist on some campuses.”

“It’s a concern that [the chants] could be used by administrations as an example of why frosh week should not be student-led,” said federation chairperson Jessica McCormick.

At UBC, the administration and student groups operate separate frosh week events. On Sunday, a university spokesman said “it’s too early to speculate” on whether that formula will change.

“If it[the chant] did happen,” said spokesman Randy Schmidt, “changes need to be made to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

The majority of Canadian frosh weeks are organized and operated by student groups, with some element of oversight from the administration, Ms. McCormick said. Another federation official said entirely student-run weeks are “extremely rare.”

But Ms. McCormick acknowledged that vulgar chants and traditions during frosh week is not unique to this year’s incidents.

“The idea that there are chants on campuses that promote rape culture is not new,” Ms. McCormick said. “Students have been doing work on this for decades,” she said in reference to the federation’s “No means no” campaign. She said the incidents have only started to be noticed due to a recent proliferation of handheld recording devices.